In U.S. Pat. No. 3,855,107, there is disclosed a cleaning and plating method and apparatus comprising a plurality of tank assemblies arranged in series through which a batch of articles to be cleaned and plated is moved successively. Each tank assembly comprises a tank containing liquid treating or plating material. A barrel is at least partly submerged in each tank and is rotated about its longitudinal axis. The ends of the barrel are open and the barrel is formed with baffles on the interior thereof. When the barrel is rotated in one direction, the articles are agitated through the liquid and when the barrel is rotated in the other direction, the articles are elevated and deposited on a chute for transfer to the next succeeding tank assembly. Provision is made for supplying electrical power to some of the assemblies in order to plate the article.
Specifically, anodes are suspended in the tank externally of the barrel and cathodes are made a part of the barrel.
Such an arrangement of electrodes necessitates a complex and expensive arrangement of connections to the cathode utilizing a ring type bus bar, brushes to the bar and construction of the barrel to provide a circuit to the interior of the barrel. In addition, such an arrangement requires substantial use of current because of the external and internal placement of the electrodes resulting in greater cost and requiring more time for the plating.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to an improved method and apparatus that obviates the aforementioned objections, which functions to plate more quickly and economically and which utilized an apparatus that is more simple and less expensive.
In accordance with the invention cathodes and anodes are mounted within the barrel and provision is made for elevating them within the barrel out of contact with the parts or liquid in the tank assemblies when the barrel is rotated in the other direction to transfer the articles and thereafter returning them into contact with the liquid.